Greg Carr

The officiating Monday night in the Music City Bowl earned the ire of Florida State coach Bobby Bowden and his Seminoles. Several questionable calls in the first half, including one in which a touchdown was erased by offensive pass interference, went against FSU, but Bowden was most flustered about how officials reacted when Tony Carter dove into the end zone after an interception. The refs whistled Carter for an unsportsmanlike penalty for the display. "And I see everybody run the ball and dive into the end zone," Bowden said.

Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder completed 18 of 31 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns, and the Seminoles' defense forced three fumbles and returned two for touchdowns in a 42-13 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday in the Champs Sports Bowl. The triumph at Orlando's Citrus Bowl gives Florida State (9-4) its best record since the 2004 season, and the Seminoles improved their record of the past two seasons by two games. After a scoreless first quarter, Florida State dominated thanks to a menacing defensive effort and an offense that did just enough.

It was time one night this week after a Florida State practice for a short one-question quiz. The topic: FSU football history. The question: When was the last time the Seminoles won a game against an Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division opponent? FSU junior receiver Greg Carr pondered for a moment. "The last time we beat an Atlantic Division opponent," Carr said. "It might have been Duke." The Seminoles did beat Duke when the teams last met. But the Blue Devils, of course, are in the Coastal Division, not the Atlantic.

The officiating Monday night in the Music City Bowl earned the ire of Florida State coach Bobby Bowden and his Seminoles. Several questionable calls in the first half, including one in which a touchdown was erased by offensive pass interference, went against FSU, but Bowden was most flustered about how officials reacted when Tony Carter dove into the end zone after an interception. The refs whistled Carter for an unsportsmanlike penalty for the display. "And I see everybody run the ball and dive into the end zone," Bowden said.

Going into Saturday's game, Florida State had lost its three best backup linebackers to season-ending injuries, with the only consolation that the Seminoles still had their top three starters. The inevitable then happened on an early special-teams play. Starting weakside linebacker Geno Hayes hit the ground with six minutes left in the first quarter while on kickoff coverage. "I've never seen it like this in my life," coach Bobby Bowden said. "Usually you spread it around, but not us. Just defensive people."

Florida State traveled here on Wednesday seeking revenge and continued ascension with the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. Instead, the Seminoles left Thursday night with more bad memories against a team that has become an FSU nemesis, one every bit as troublesome to the Seminoles as Florida or Miami. Wake Forest beat FSU 24-21 here at BB&T Field on Thursday night, and though this defeat wasn't nearly as lopsided as the Demon Deacons' 30-0 victory in Tallahassee last November, it carries the same sting.

Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder completed 18 of 31 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns, and the Seminoles' defense forced three fumbles and returned two for touchdowns in a 42-13 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday in the Champs Sports Bowl. The triumph at Orlando's Citrus Bowl gives Florida State (9-4) its best record since the 2004 season, and the Seminoles improved their record of the past two seasons by two games. After a scoreless first quarter, Florida State dominated thanks to a menacing defensive effort and an offense that did just enough.

Florida State didn't lose much tangible production when wide receivers Fred Rouse and Kenny O'Neal were kicked off the team during the offseason. What the Seminoles did lose was tremendous potential. "Two great prospects," coach Bobby Bowden said, shaking his head when asked what he had sacrificed. "What did Philadelphia lose with [Terrell Owens] leaving?" Rouse, alternately cocky and pouty, had six catches as a true freshman last season. O'Neal, the team's leading kickoff returner as a redshirt freshman, had just five catches.

Not that Greg Carr is counting, but he knows off the top of his head that he has 15 touchdowns in his brief career, spanning barely a season and a half, six of them in one stadium and six total this season. But this curious coincidence he did not know: Florida State is 8-0 in games when the 6-foot-6 sophomore receiver catches a pass in the end zone. The stat, on its face, seems to confirm what many fans have suspected since they first saw Carr a year ago -- that if the Seminoles would just throw to him more often, they might win more often as well.

New Florida State wide receivers coach Lawrence Dawsey has all kinds of credibility with his players. He was an All-American at FSU, and Sports Illustrated's NFL Rookie of the Year. He played seven NFL seasons, which his players well know. Then he did this: He ran gassers with them. Yes, he ran with them. And because of the receivers' desire to be like Dawsey, and to impress him, the Seminoles are banking that an unremarkable group finally will come into its own. "We feel like we're dealing with somebody who's been through it, and he knows what it takes because he's been there," said Greg Carr, whose progress seems to have stalled since he caught four touchdown passes in his first three games in 2005.

Say this for Christian Ponder: The kid almost pulled it off. Out there in the near-freezing temperatures. Against the 11th-ranked team in the country. In a game played with prison-yard intensity. In his major college debut, unless you count practices and the spring game. On a day when bodies kept crumpling to the cold, hard turf, especially those belonging to quarterbacks. With all that going on it took guts for the redshirt freshman from Texas just to step out on that field. That he led Florida State out of a two-touchdown hole and nearly to its second straight road upset of a national power says plenty about Ponder and his bright future.

Florida State traveled here on Wednesday seeking revenge and continued ascension with the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. Instead, the Seminoles left Thursday night with more bad memories against a team that has become an FSU nemesis, one every bit as troublesome to the Seminoles as Florida or Miami. Wake Forest beat FSU 24-21 here at BB&T Field on Thursday night, and though this defeat wasn't nearly as lopsided as the Demon Deacons' 30-0 victory in Tallahassee last November, it carries the same sting.

It was time one night this week after a Florida State practice for a short one-question quiz. The topic: FSU football history. The question: When was the last time the Seminoles won a game against an Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division opponent? FSU junior receiver Greg Carr pondered for a moment. "The last time we beat an Atlantic Division opponent," Carr said. "It might have been Duke." The Seminoles did beat Duke when the teams last met. But the Blue Devils, of course, are in the Coastal Division, not the Atlantic.

Florida State practice had ended Thursday night, and so had Jimbo Fisher's long-awaited announcement in which he named the Seminoles' starting quarterback. The practice fields grew emptier, quieter, and Fisher and Drew Weatherford stood by themselves, the quarterback listening and the coach coaching. Moments earlier, Fisher, FSU's first-year offensive coordinator, had named Weatherford, a redshirt junior, the Seminoles' starting quarterback for the Sept. 3 season opener at Clemson. And hours earlier, Fisher had broke the news to Weatherford and his chief competitor for the job, Xavier Lee. After more than two weeks of preseason practice, it was a predictable conclusion.

New Florida State wide receivers coach Lawrence Dawsey has all kinds of credibility with his players. He was an All-American at FSU, and Sports Illustrated's NFL Rookie of the Year. He played seven NFL seasons, which his players well know. Then he did this: He ran gassers with them. Yes, he ran with them. And because of the receivers' desire to be like Dawsey, and to impress him, the Seminoles are banking that an unremarkable group finally will come into its own. "We feel like we're dealing with somebody who's been through it, and he knows what it takes because he's been there," said Greg Carr, whose progress seems to have stalled since he caught four touchdown passes in his first three games in 2005.

Greg Carr got both hands on the ball. He's sure he did. This was exactly the play his 6-foot-6 frame was built for: a 42-yard Hail Mary in the end zone to salvage an improbable come-from-behind victory with no time on the clock. He watched the ball falling toward his grasp, with 5-11 Boston College safety Larry Anam shoving against his body. And Carr got both hands on it. He's sure he did. Thousands of fans erupting behind him thought so, too. But after the officials were done sorting through the tangle of players that had piled on top of Carr and Anam in Florida State's end zone, it turned out BC had an interception, and with it a 24-19 victory Saturday.

Inconsistent offensive execution, highlighted by a critical Drew Weatherford interception, and a horrific penalty were more than Florida State could overcome in its 24-19 loss to Boston College, sending the Seminoles a 4-3 start for the first time since 1978. Leading 10-7 with 2:23 left in the first half and Boston College punting from its 37-yard line, Ben Lampkin, one of FSU's inside men, rushed for a block, even though a return was called, and ended up roughing punter Johnny Ayers. The Eagles turned the gift first down into a touchdown and a 14-10 lead.

HURRICANES SAPP TAKES PLAYERS TO TASK Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Warren Sapp, one of the Hurricanes' more outspoken former players, took issue with Miami's most recent loss to Georgia Tech, calling last week's 14-10 upset "disgusting." "[A] disgrace to the whole university and everybody that ever played there. Unbelievable," said Sapp, an All-American defensive tackle at UM in the early 1990s. "Are you kidding me? Georgia Tech. That's like the sisters of the blind." When asked about Sapp's comment most of UM's current players seemed ashamed they, "didn't hold up their end of the bargain," according to defensive tackle Kareem Brown.

Inconsistent offensive execution, highlighted by a critical Drew Weatherford interception, and a horrific penalty were more than Florida State could overcome in its 24-19 loss to Boston College, sending the Seminoles a 4-3 start for the first time since 1978. Leading 10-7 with 2:23 left in the first half and Boston College punting from its 37-yard line, Ben Lampkin, one of FSU's inside men, rushed for a block, even though a return was called, and ended up roughing punter Johnny Ayers. The Eagles turned the gift first down into a touchdown and a 14-10 lead.

Not that Greg Carr is counting, but he knows off the top of his head that he has 15 touchdowns in his brief career, spanning barely a season and a half, six of them in one stadium and six total this season. But this curious coincidence he did not know: Florida State is 8-0 in games when the 6-foot-6 sophomore receiver catches a pass in the end zone. The stat, on its face, seems to confirm what many fans have suspected since they first saw Carr a year ago -- that if the Seminoles would just throw to him more often, they might win more often as well.